The Loch Ard Gorge is part of

Port Campbell National Park The Port Campbell National Park is a national park in the south-western district of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately south-west of Melbourne and approximately east of Warrnambool. The park is located adjacen ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia, about three minutes' drive west of The Twelve Apostles.

History

The gorge is named after the

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

that was

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

ed on 1 June 1878 near the end of a three-month journey from England to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Of 54 passengers and crew, only two survived: Thomas Pearce, one of the ship's apprentices; and Eva Carmichael, an Irishwoman emigrating with her family. Pearce and Carmichael were each 19 years old. According to memorials at the site, Pearce was washed ashore, and rescued Carmichael from the water after hearing her cries for help. Pearce then climbed out of the gorge to raise the alarm to local pastoralists who quickly came to Carmichael's rescue. Three months after the disaster, which claimed the lives of seven members of her family, Carmichael returned to Ireland. Pearce was hailed a hero, and the Victorian Humane Society awarded him its first Gold Medal. He died aged 49 and is buried in

Southampton Old Cemetery The cemetery has had various titles including The Cemetery by the Common, Hill Lane Cemetery and is currently known as Southampton Old Cemetery. An Act of Parliament was required in 1843 to acquire the land from Southampton Common. It covers a ...

, England. GOR Cemetery at Loch Ard

At least four of ''Loch Ard''s passengers are buried nearby: Reginald Jones, Arthur Mitchell, Eva Carmichael's elder sister Raby and their mother Rebecca. The bodies of many of the other passengers and crew were never found. The arch of the nearby Island Archway collapsed in June 2009. The feature now appears as two unconnected rock pillars. They have since been officially named Tom and Eva after the two survivors of the ''Loch Ard'' wreck. Loch Ard Gorge

General

The gorge is accessed via the

Great Ocean Road The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage-listed stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia, between the Victorian towns of Torquay and Allansford. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and dedica ...

, northwest of The Twelve Apostles. Stairs allow visitors access to the beach and a pathway allows access to the eastern side of the gorge. There are numerous plaques and a small museum detailing the site's history, as well as a rest area, and cemetery housing many of the people that died.

Fauna

The uncommon rufous bristlebird (''Dasyornis broadbenti'') is often observed around the Gorge.

In films

This was the location for a number of scenes of the 1982 film ''

The Pirate Movie ''The Pirate Movie'' is a 1982 Australian musical romantic comedy film directed by Ken Annakin, and starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. Loosely based on Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera ''The Pirates of Penzance'', the or ...

'' and also the 1999 TV series ''

Journey to the Center of the Earth ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (), also translated with the variant titles ''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' and ''A Journey into the Interior of the Earth'', is a classic science fiction novel written by French novelist Jules Ve ...

'' with

Treat Williams Richard Treat Williams Jr. (December 1, 1951 – June 12, 2025) was an American actor, whose career on stage and in film and television spanned five decades. He received many accolades for his work, including nominations for three Golden Globe ...

. The gorge hosted the final task and finish line for the

third series Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of ''

The Amazing Race Australia ''The Amazing Race Australia'' (also known as ''The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition'') is an Australian adventure reality competition show based on the American series ''The Amazing Race (American TV series), The Amazing Race''. Follo ...

''.

References

External links